OTTER DEADFALLS.
At the present day when steel traps are so cheap and abundant it may
sound very primitive and an uncertain way of trapping these animals
for one to advocate the use of the deadfall, especially as every
hunter knows the animal is much more at home in the water than on
land. But on land they go and it was by deadfalls the way-back
Indians killed a many that were in their packs at the end of the
hunting season.
Of course these wooden traps were not set at haphazard thru the brush
as marten traps, but were set up at the otter slide places, and where
they crossed points in river bends, or it might be where a narrow
strip of land connected two lakes. These places were known from one
generation to another and the old traps were freshened up spring and
fall by some member of the family hunting those grounds.
These special deadfalls were called otter traps, but really when once
set were open for most any animal of a medium size passing that path.
The writer has known beaver, lynx, fox and in one instance a cub bear
to be caught in one of these deadfalls. There was a simplicity and
usefulness about these traps that commended them to the trapper and
even now in this rush century some hunters might use them with
advantage.
When once set, they remain so until some animal comes along and is
caught. I say "caught" because if properly erected they rarely miss.
They require no bait and therefore are never out of order by the
depredations of mice, squirrels or moose birds. I knew a man who
caught two otters together. This may sound fishy, but when once a
present generation trapper sees one of these traps set he will
readily believe this apparently impossible result is quite likely to
happen.
The trap is made thus: Cut four forked young birch about five feet
long, pointing the lower ends and leaving the forks uppermost. Plant
two of these firmly in the ground at each side of the otter path,
three inches apart between them and about twenty inches across the
path. These must be driven very hard in the ground and a throat piece
put in level between the uprights across the path from side to side.
As a choker and to support the weight of logs to kill the otter, cut
a pole (tamarac preferable) long enough to pass three feet each side
of your picket or uprights, see that this falls easy and clear.
[Illustration: OTTER DEADFALL.]
Now cut two short poles for the forks to lay in from side to side of
the path, being in the same direction as the choker. At the middle of
one of these short poles tie a good stout cord or rope (the Indians
used split young roots), making a loop of same long enough to lay
over the pole in front and down to the height the choke pole is going
to be. When set, next comes the trigger which must be of hard wood
and about a foot long, round at one end and flat at the other. A
groove is hacked out all around the stick at the round end. This is
to tie the cord to.
The choke stick is now brought up to say twenty inches from the
ground and rested on top of the trigger. A stick about an inch in
diameter is placed outside the pickets and the flat end of the
trigger is laid in against this. The tied stick to be about eight
inches from the ground. The tying at the end of the trigger being at
one side will create a kind of leverage sufficiently strong to press
hard against the tied stick. Care must be taken, however, to have
this pressure strong enough but not too strong for the animal to set
off.
Now load each end of the choke stick with small laps of wood to
insure holding whatever may catch. A little loose moss or grass is
placed fluffy under tread stick when set to insure the otter going
over and not under. When he clambers over the tread stick his weight
depresses it, the trigger flies up, letting the loaded bar fall on
his body, which holds him till death.
While my description of the making of a deadfall for otters is plain
enough to me, yet the novice may not succeed in constructing one the
first time. Still if he is a trapper he will very soon perceive where
any mistake may be and correct it. I have used both steel traps and
deadfalls and altho I do not wish to start a controversy yet I must
say that a deadfall well set is a good trap. For marten on a stump
they are never covered unless with snow, nor is the marten when
caught destroyed by mice.
Of course, to set a deadfall for otter it must be done in the fall
before the ground is frozen. Once made, however, it can be set up
either spring or fall and will, with a little repairs, last for
years. I am aware the tendency of the age is to progress and not to
use obsolete methods, still even some old things have their
advantages. Good points are not to be sneered at and one of these I
maintain for spring and fall trapping in a district where otter move
about from lake to lake or river to river is the old time Indian
deadfall.